Greetings Mustang Experts!
I wonder if any of you have encountered the problem I'm having with my 2000 Mustang GT. I first encountered the problem at about 40,000 miles, and continues.
The car always starts with no problem, but sometimes (a few times a month) immediately after starting, the tachometer drops like a stone to zero immediately after starting. I can keep the engine going by pressing on the accelerator, but the moment I let off (say, to brake), the car stalls again. This will go on for about ten minutes or so - I assume the problem going away has something to do with the engine warming up. As the engine warms, the car will start to stay alive when I take my foot off the accelerator, but will roughly idle at about 500 RPM instead of the normal 900 - 1200. Evenutally, the car will operate normally again.
This problem seems to occur mostly on rainy days, or cloudy, high humdity days. I think it also seems to happen more often after I've been on long interstate driving, but I'm less sure of that.
I had a complete fuel system cleaning performed, and that didn't help. I've added fuel injector cleaners, but they don't seem to help either. I change my oil and filter every 3000 miles, and use 89 octane fuel.
Becuase this is an intermittant problem, I can't get any mechanic to believe that it really exists. You know how it is - they seem to think that I have nothing better to do with my time and money than to bring a perfectly good car in for service, or that I'm too stupid to know when my car is operating normally.
Anyway - I suspect that there is something wrong with the high voltage system - perhaps a crack in the insulation on some wire or component that acts up when the high humidity causes arcing. I speculate that as the engine warms, the air dries, and the arcing stops - but that's just a guess. Have any of you experienced something similar? Any ideas?
Thanks for any help you can suggest!
Best Regards, Dave